It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started. During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

10. Explicit discussions of either topic is a faux pas at most cocktail parties.9. Historically, men have been in control, but there are now efforts to get women more involved.8. There are many joint results.7. Both are prominent on college campuses, and are usually practiced indoors.6. Most people wish they knew more about both subjects.5. Both involve long and hard problems, and can produce interesting topology and geometry.4. Both merit undivided attention, but mathematicians are prone to think about one while doing the other.3. Saint Augustine was hostile to both, and Alan Turing took an unusual approach to both.2. Both typically begin with a lot of hard work and end with a great but brief reward.1. Professionals are generally viewed with suspicion, and most do not earn high pay.

Internet censorship is spreading and becoming more sophisticated across the planet, even as users develop savvier ways around it, according to early results in the first-ever comprehensive global survey of internet censorship.

The spectrum of internet censorship ranged from transparent to utterly murky. Perhaps the country with the most accessible filtering system was Saudi Arabia. On their website, they have all the information of why they block and what they block. And they invite contributions (of other sites to be blocked) from the public.

Sometimes a censoring government tries to conceal its filtering behind spoofed web-browser error messages. Tunisia, for instance, masks filtered pages by serving a mockup of Internet Explorer's 404 error page. Rather than getting a page that says 'This page has been blocked,' you get a page saying 'Page not found,' designed to look exactly like the Internet Explorer 404 page. These supposed error pages stand out when you're not using IE....

Reporters Without Borders have updated their list of internet enemies.Three countries - Nepal, Maldives and Libya - have been removed from the annual list. But many bloggers were harassed and imprisoned this year in Egypt, so it has been added to the roll of shame reserved for countries that systematically violate online free expression.

I have signed the pledge on Internet freedom from Amnesty International:

I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs online without fear or interference.

I call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression on the Internet – and on companies to stop helping them do it.

A guy is taking a walk and sees a frog on the side of the road. As he comes closer, the frog starts to talk. "Kiss me and I will turn into a princess."

The guy picks the frog up and puts it in his pocket. The frog starts shouting, "Hey! Didn't you hear me? I'm a Princess. Just kiss me and I will be yours."

The guy takes the frog out of his pocket and smiles at it and puts it back. The frog is really frustrated. "I don't get it. Why won't you kiss me? I will turn into a beautiful princess and do anything you ask."

The guy says, "Look, I'm a computer geek. I don't have time for women. But a talking frog is very cool!"